Guardian Angel
by letreeman
Summary: Some time after her last home and family were torn apart, Michonne is with Andrea wandering the woods in search of a new sanctuary. But in ways that Michonne never thought possible, Andrea will not only help her find her way closer to a new sanctuary, she will also help her find herself.
1. Chapter 1

A forest is a large place. Put a hundred, or maybe even a thousand people in it and spread them out, and their numbers will look small. Back then, that fact would have been something people would have found fascinating. But now, it would be something people, the few of them who still are, would fear. Because that meant that at any given corner in any given area at any given moment, there could be a walker, or maybe two, or maybe ten, lurking about, ready to rip flesh right out of bone to satisfy its hunger. And the poor soul who was at the wrong place at the wrong time would barely even see it coming…

But sometimes, the walkers would gather, show off their numbers. They would travel together, whether knowing of each other's company or not, and unwittingly cooperate to achieve their one goal: fresh meat. Such was the herd shambling eastward and making its seemingly never-ending pilgrimage. Those groans and lurking blank eyes by themselves could simply drive someone insane. It was an intimidating sight, but to those hoping to not be caught by surprise, it was a luxury. Now they know where _not_ to go…or at the very least, if they were staring their death in the eye, they would see it coming. But obviously not everyone wanted to die. And Michonne was one of those people. She stepped in, sword in hand, and eyed the herd. The place she was looking for, her sanctuary, wherever or whatever that may be, may just be across the shambling herd. Or maybe it's not… Michonne weighed her options, should she dive in, take the major gamble, or play it safe, ditch the herd, and continue looking? After a moment's deliberation, she chose the latter. She made her way to an outing. There was more open space and it was less dense. She looked straight ahead, the tire track-ridden path led on for quite some distance…perhaps there's a place somewhere along the road. Almost as soon as she arrived at the outing, she then moved forward. She encountered a few solitary walkers along the way, some she sliced their heads off, and some she just walked by…it wasn't like they were gonna outrun her anyway. Soon enough, she found that there were more of them, straight ahead, in groups. She turned right, back into the forest, and then moved forward from there.

Almost as if by chance, once she reached the end of the forest, she found, just across the road, a motel. It was moderately sized, and from the looks of things, it was probably one of those overnight stopovers people would go to if they needed a few hours or a quick checkpoint. It couldn't have been more than 3 stars. But at this point, to Michonne, it looked like it could be sanctuary. She made her way to the motel, slicing off the heads of a couple of walkers along the way. When she got to the parking lot of the motel though, she heard more groaning. She looked into the window and found that the reception area was full of walkers. She didn't exactly have to "check in", but those groans and moans were, even up to now, the stuff of her nightmares, and she didn't want to have to deal with them. So she banged at the window, opened the door and veered back. The walkers filed out of the room and headed towards her, but in spite of their numbers, they were no match for Michonne. In time, the parking lot became filled with corpses of walkers whose heads were impaled, crushed, or gone. Some heads even had the misfortune of being all three.

But as Michonne surveyed her handiwork, she heard a distant noise from the motel. There was still one more walker. Michonne watched as it made its way out. It was once a boy, it could still walk, which meant it was no younger than 3, but, given its appearance, certainly no more older than 6. It was also an African-American. Michonne despaired at the sight of this. It reminded her…it was just too much. As the walker shambled its way toward her, Michonne closed her eyes tightly. She was barely getting her sword up and she was almost in tears. It would take everything out of her to be able to finish off this one, if she could that is. As it inched closer to her though, near enough for death, Michonne heard a gunshot. She exhaled deeply, opened her eyes and found that the walker was dead at her feet with a hole in its head. Michonne looked at it tensely as Andrea stepped in, dragging her two chained armless, jawless "pet" walkers with her. Andrea eyed her sternly, and after a moment, Michonne just walked away from the motel, took back her two "pets" and made her way down the road with Andrea following after.


	2. Chapter 2

Michonne and Andrea continued walking through the forest outing, stepping on the old tracks left behind from the tires and from the feet. The two leashed walkers just followed their puppet master, purposelessly, pretty much harmlessly shambling behind her. The two women walked in silence, which was actually quite a common occurrence during their time together.

"You know, with you getting all excited and heading off like that, it's a wonder you haven't lost me." Andrea broke the silence.

"You'd live." Michonne flatly responded. After a short moment, she decided to continue on. "I just thought, that maybe the search was over when I saw those tracks."

"The search for what exactly?" Andrea responded. "Look Michonne, I don't think that just having a place to stay would cut it. I mean, if you…we…decided to stay in that motel, how would…"

"Them." She interrupted, as she nudged her head slightly towards her pets. Andrea sighed and stared straight ahead in slight frustration.

"Well, _suppose_ that motel was secure, _and_ suppose it did start to look more…more like a permanent home," Andrea continued, "Would it really end at that?"

Michonne eyed her peripherally, a look of slight resentment on her face.

"What about people?" Andrea continued. "What about…you know…community? What about…"

"It doesn't matter… Not anymore it doesn't…"

"…Michonne… We both know that that isn't true…"

"Maybe it is now…" Michonne coldly replied as she overtook Andrea.

"Look…I'm sure that other place can't be too far off. Just follow the footprints,"

"No!" Michonne interrupted, raising her voice a little higher.

Silence ensued once again after that. They continued walking straight down the outing wordlessly until the silence was broken by the snarls of a walker shambling close by. They wouldn't be able to walk past it, which barely seemed to bother them, if at all, not that it would try to get them anyway, with the two pets around. But Michonne, with cold indifference in her eyes, simply brought her katana out of its sheath on her back and hacked the walker right in the skull in one fluid motion as Andrea watched on nonchalantly. Michonne then released her sword from the walker's skull, barely changing her facial expression while doing so.

"Less than an hour before sundown. We'll walk another two miles down this outing then go back in." Michonne asserted, and she continued walking. "Forest is our bedroom for tonight." She said with a touch of humor, trying to lighten the mood.

Andrea slightly grinned, shrugged her shoulder and mouthed "We" before following.

They walked the miles and reentered the forest. They walked until they were a certain distance in. After around an hour's walking, they found a spot near a stream where they could settle. In spite of Michonne's approximation, the sun still shined brightly as the two women settled down as Michonne chained her walker pets to a nearby tree.

"Sooo…" Andrea smiled. "Either, you were wrong, or this is one slow ass 'less than an hour'…"

"Oh, shut up." Michonne giggled. "You lawyers and your creepy little 'I'm right; you're wrong' attitudes… Seriously, even with all of…this…going on around us, you would still use it _everywhere_!" She quipped, accompanying it with the

appropriate hand gestures.

"Hey! Come on! It's not like I use it _all the time_! And besides, it was _that_ kind of attitude that got my firm an"

"80% success rate!" Michonne quoted in a mock advertising voice. "Of course, the fabled Harrison-Hughes human rights law firm!"

"_Legendary _law firm!" Andrea teased back. "And hey! Laugh at me all you want, but that got me a _lot_ of respect from those New York City big leagues! … But not from Amy though…" Andrea suddenly lamented.

Michonne's smile disappeared as she saw Andrea fight to keep hers on.

"Do you want to talk about it some more?"

"No… I've made my peace with it… Just doesn't mean I don't miss her everyday…"

"…That makes two of us…"

" …You had a sister?" Andrea inquired, tilting her head.

"No. But I do have someone…there are people…I miss…"

Andrea eyed the ground and let her smile widen as she switched the topic.

"Well, I'm sure all of this release of feelings is certainly making,"

But before Andrea could finish, she and Michonne heard the sound of a twig snap. They looked across the stream and saw a stag standing by the stream's edge bending down and taking a drink. Sentimental smiles of awe formed on their faces as they stared at the majestic animal. It was a great figure, with giant antlers and a perfect streamlined body and an elegant and poised stance. Even in the old world, to see such a beautiful animal would be a defining, once in a lifetime experience. Andrea and Michonne would never have had to be told that. They knew the luck and good fortune was impeccable. When the world turned to shit and for all intents and purposes, ended, it was great to know that it still had something beautiful to give once in a while. Andrea and Michonne stared at the great buck, awestruck and with wide smiles on their faces. They laughed in celebration of the serendipity and Andrea even let a few tears escape her. Michonne briefly looked over to Andrea and then back to the stag; she shared this rare moment with Andrea.

"Don't see that everyday, don't you?" Andrea asked.

"No we don't…" Michonne replied, slightly prolonging her syllables.

They stared and smiled in silent awe until the stag quenched his thirst and began to make his way back into the forest. The two ladies still kept smiling and staring in awe as Andrea cupped her hand on her mouth and as Michonne giggled lightly. They soon laughed in awe some more before simultaneously taking one last deep breath. Michonne's smile then slowly contorted into a sly grin.

"You were saying…" She asked in a deadpan tone.

"…Midday snack." Andrea fiercely replied with the same deadpan voice and sly grin. She could pass for a femme fatale the way she looked and sounded just there.

"I'm on it." Michonne softly uttered as she unsheathed her sword and made her way across the stream after the deer.

"Michonne" Andrea called out after her just before her feet touched the stream water. She took out her gun and handed it to her. "As painless a death as possible."

Michonne held the gun and proceeded down the stream. Seeing something as beautiful as that stag was quite a treat, even by old world standards… Then again, so was venison.


	3. Chapter 3

Michonne followed the buck's tracks deeper into the forest. She let him walk a certain distance without her following to make sure he didn't sense her but also kept a respectable pace while she was at it so as not to protract her pursuit too much. In time, the tracks finally cut off by a grassy patch of land in the forest. There, Michonne found that there was an entire herd of deer grazing by. There were around ten does with fawns as well as two stags, including the one that was seen earlier. Michonne did admit to herself that it was quite a lovely sight, but there wasn't much time to sit down and admire because she needed to eat. She crouched down, clutched the handle of her katana and began to slowly inch closer to the herd, like a lion stalking zebra. Before she could get far though, she heard a rustle in the bushes by the nearby tree and she immediately huddled close to it, katana at the ready. From the bushes emerged a coyote, in prime stance and stalking the herd, getting ready to pounce. Michonne angled herself by the tree in a way that it wouldn't see her, while still clutching her sword in case it would try anything funny. After a few moments that seemed longer than they were, the coyote began running, lunging towards the herd. The deer scrambled and Michonne found that there were even more coyotes from other areas chasing after the deer as well; it was a pack hunt. It was a fast-paced chase and the deer and coyotes were almost out of sight, so Michonne ran out after them; she wasn't going to pass up an opportunity for such a precious meal. She guided herself by the sounds of hooves and paws touching the ground and by the cries of the pursued deer…to think that even in this world, natural predator-prey interactions were still alive and well. Eventually, Michonne heard cries that were louder and nearer as well as fierce growls. She made a run for their direction and there she found two coyotes fiercely trying to drag a fawn off while its mother was trying her best to fight them off. The mother was tenacious, but the coyotes were cunning, and one of them caught her attention and let itself be chased by the doe, as the other coyote took care of the fawn. Soon, another coyote snuck in and joined the other coyote with the fawn. Michonne watched as the two of them bit into and thrashed around the fawn. As much as it pained her to acknowledge it, she knew very well that it was dying a slow and painful death by being ripped apart by hungry predators. Instead of looking away, Michonne blankly fixed her gaze at what was going on. What she was seeing was a prime example of nature's cruelty, and in Michonne's case though, cruelty in general. Eventually, Michonne saw the fawn breathe its last, and soon it gave out as the coyotes were preparing to dig into it. The coyote that separated itself from the others to distract the doe eventually chased the mother off; she, knowing that it was no use anymore trying to protect her fawn, gave up and let herself be warded off. She began to run away, and though it didn't show on her face the way it would on a human's, she was anguished to leave her fawn behind to die.

And so she ran farther away from her child's slaughter, heading straight into where Michonne was. Quickly and somewhat instinctually, Michonne raised her blade and slashed at the doe, and it let out a pained cry and fell to the ground not too far from where Michonne was standing. Michonne then walked over to the doe, twitching in pain from the slash on her neck. She then stood there and looked at it in sympathy. She bent down and placed a gentle hand on the doe's face. A tear escaped her eye and made its way down her face.

"I'm sorry." She said in a hushed tone, almost a whisper.

She continued to stroke her hand on the doe's face, and the anguished look on her eye, from what Michonne interpreted was just as much from seeing her child ripped apart as it was from being slashed by het katana, appeared to direct its gaze towards her.  
"I'm sorry." Michonne repeated in the same hushed tone, and she brought out Andrea's gun and shot the doe in the head.

Michonne carried the doe as she followed her footprints back to the stream across which she saw her two chained walkers tied to a nearby tree as well as Andrea sitting on a log. At this point, the sky had begun to take up a darker shade of blue.

"What happened? Did you cut his antlers off?" Andrea joked. Michonne knew what she was asking about.

"Coyotes." She answered, doing her best to put on a grin. "There was a whole herd, they scattered it, wound up with this one."

"Predator-prey. Hard to believe that still exists." Andrea remarked

"That's what I said." Michonne fought to put up a smile

"Well, definitely better than nothing. This'll last. Time for a camp fire."

Andrea stood up and dusted off her pants as Michonne sat down on the log across Andrea's and set down the deer carcass. She took the opportunity to take a deep, shaky breath and register the memory of her harrowing experience. Andrea noticed Michonne's shakiness and tenseness.

"You alright?" She reached out.

Michonne gave as best a smile as she could. "Yeah. Just tired."


	4. Chapter 4

Michonne ferociously stuffed her face with the deer meat. It was night and the campfire was now the main source of light. She ravenously bit into her ration, savoring the tender meat that was made even juicier by its bone. She literally stripped it clean before taking another one from the deer roasting above the fire and dug into it as if she hadn't eaten her previous one. Across from her, Andrea, who had several rations on her lap in a makeshift leaf plate, stared at her in perplexed amusement.

"Continue eating like that, and you'll be no better than the walkers." She joked.

"Bite me." The swordswoman responded.

"…Really?" Andrea humorously responded as they both began to chuckle.

Michonne then swallowed and cleared her throat.

"Come on! We both know that venison tastes like heaven, and every time we got any we always had to put napkins on our laps and raise our pinkies! How about we eat it the way it's supposed to be eaten for a change, huh?" Michonne laughed.

"Well, can't argue with that, and I'm a lawyer!" Andrea laughed back.

They both laughed then for a while before Michonne continued with her meal.

"So you were rich, before…this?" Andrea inquired with matching gestures.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well you were talking about venison, and all that idiotic fancy decorum we always had to follow when we had any… Rich people talk… So what were you back then?"

Michonne swallowed her meat before continuing.

"Well…first off, turns out we weren't too far away from each other… You went to college in Columbia, while I was a psychology major at NYU…then I got pretty damn bored of it so I switched to fine arts…became a high-class curator."

She finished with a sly smile and watched Andrea shuffle her upper body, impressed. Just then however, the sounds of chains clanging became louder as Michonne's pets started to shuffle around in their restraints.

"Here we go again." Andrea quipped as she turned to face the restless pets while Michonne eyed them uneasily.

"You know you never really told me about them…" Andrea turned to face Michonne "I mean, you did tell me that they, 'weren't even human to begin with', but…" Andrea stopped mid-sentence as Michonne kept that uneasy look on her face.

"You don't wanna talk about it?" Andrea gently asked as Michonne started lightly bobbing her head.

"I lived in a damn fine mansion." Michonne softly spoke out. "Got a pretty good job on me too. They say you should pursue your passion… I loved art…and that's what I did. Worked pretty damn well for me. Got the job of my dreams, $100,000 a year. I had it good.

"But the mansion I was in…no way 100 grand could pay for all of that…no. I had my own partner in crime… Mike. One of them businessman in Georgia who made a million a year…I thought he was the love of my life… That's him right there…"

Michonne then pointed to the chained pet on the left side. Andrea looked over and back as sympathy began to form in her eyes.

"Boy we lived the good life…" Michonne slowly continued. "We had it all. Big house, jobs of our dreams, parties almost every month…we even had a baby!"

Andrea almost gasped out loud at hearing this. In spite of the news, she managed to keep herself from making any sound. Now was not the time for her to talk.

"His name was Andre…" Michonne continued after a short silence. "And he was a little angel… He was my little angel… He was _our _little angel. And then, and then everything happened, and we…we had to get away. We had to run away. We had to leave everything behind.

"Before I knew it. Almost everyone I knew was gone. Dead, somewhere else…one of those things… I don't know… And soon it was just me, Mike, his best friend Terry,"

Michonne bobbed her head upwards at mentioning the last's name and Andrea knew that Terry was the other chained walker.

"…and Andre…" Michonne finished. "We ran, we ran, and we ran. It seemed like we would just be running forever… And then we found a camp. It was a small group… 10, 15 people. Maybe 20, but that's about it… We seemed safe, we seemed secure, but to Mike it just wasn't the same.

"It wasn't anything like we used to have. Not at all… But to Mike, better in that camp than out there… 'At least we were safe' we all thought… And then, one night, those damn things came at us, at the whole camp… Everyone was gone… It was just the four of us… I was already good with a sword, so I was able to save us… And then I told them that we had to go, look for someone else…but they lost it. They didn't want to run anymore, they didn't want to move on anymore. 'What was all this for?' they asked. 'What are we going for? Where's the happy ending here?'

"And then another one of those things started creeping up behind them. I was gonna go for it, but he wasn't done talking…" Michonne's voice became shakier.

"He said this isn't life… Not for him, not for us…not for our son… He asked why we were still running. Why we were still going on in this new and _shit-filled_ world… 'What was the answer?' he asked…and I had nothing to say to him… I told him that 'I don't know'." Tears then began to form on Michonne's face.

"And then he just looked at me, I'll never forget that look on his face, and he told me that we have nothing else to live for anymore…then he took out his gun… '4 bullets' he said… And I begged, I pleaded, but it's as if he never even heard me. He pointed the gun on Andre's head, and he…he pulled the trigger… And then I went numb… He pointed the gun at me next…he would've shot me…he would've killed me…but then he heard Terry scream.

"It got him…it was biting down on his neck. I don't even remember everything that happened next. I blanked out. Next thing I knew, Mike and Terry were dead, and it…it was eating Andre. I don't even how. There were two grown men that it already bit, and it chose to eat my baby right in front of me… So I killed it, and then…"

Michonne gestured to the pets, and she didn't need to explain any further.

"Michonne…" Andrea softly and tearfully started. "Thank you… Thank you for telling me… But…but,"

Before Andrea could finish, the sounds of human activity were heard. At first, Michonne and Andrea were hopeful, could it be people they were hoping to find? Soon enough though, they found that they weren't.

"We almost had it! We almost had it dammit!" They heard distantly. "And don't think we didn't see you there, bitch! Thanks to you, we're fucking homeless!"

The men's ranting was then followed by a woman's screams of pain and terror that were muffled from time to time.

"Yeah! You like that? You like that don't ya you little whore!? Yeaaahhh!"

Michonne and Andrea knew what they were doing to her, and it made them sick. They shuddered to even think about it. But before they could react, they heard one of the men say the absolute last thing they were hoping he would say.

"Hey man, what's that? Is that a fire?"

They knew they were going to check it out, but Michonne started to consider whether she should run or try to fight.

"Come on. We gotta get out of here!" Andrea frantically resolved her dilemma for her.

Andrea was the first to get moving as Michonne went to detach her pets' chains from the tree. As Andrea ran, she found that a large herd was heading in her direction. Andrea looked back at Michonne and when the swordswoman met her gaze, she shared a quick stare before making a run to her left. Michonne's eyes bulged as she finally detached the chains from the tree. She walked on, a bit held back thanks to the load she was dragging wit her. The sounds of the approaching men were getting louder, and she tried to follow where Andrea had gone, but walkers were flooding in from that direction. While Michonne knew that her pets would keep walkers from smelling her, she didn't know if they still wouldn't notice her even if she touched them, and given the size of the herd, there was no way she could go through the herd without touching at least one of its shambling members. With the rapists approaching, she had to make a hasty decision, which was that she was better safe than sorry. Michonne then began walking, as quickly as she could, in the opposite direction where there were no walkers approaching.


End file.
